A Braille-to-Braille facsimile machine implemented process scans an original Braille document, obtaining an image of the original Braille document. The image of the original Braille document is processed, producing an extracted Braille image and duplicating formatting of the original Braille document to produce a copy of the original Braille document. The copy of the original Braille document is sent, via a communications link and received. The copy of the original Braille document is then printed.
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1. A facsimile machine implemented method comprising: scanning an original Braille document, obtaining an image of the original Braille document; processing the image of the original Braille document, producing an extracted Braille image and duplicating formatting of the original Braille document producing a copy of the original Braille document; sending the copy of the original Braille document, via a communications link; receiving the copy of the original Braille document; and printing the copy of the original Braille document; wherein the processing further comprises: generating horizontal lines around an instance of a dot in a first copy of the extracted Braille image; generating differentiable horizontal lines around an instance of a set of lines with small spaces between lines and an instance of two lines around an instance of dots in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of set of horizontal lines with small spaces between them that are located between an instance of two differentiable horizontal lines in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of two horizontal lines spaced less than the regular height of a Braille cell in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; dividing space from a first segment to the top of the first copy of the extracted Braille image; dividing an instance of a horizontal segment of two lines spaced greater than the regular height of a Braille cell in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of dots between an instance of segments of two horizontal lines in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; generating vertical lines around an instance of a dot in a second copy of the extracted Braille image; generating differentiable vertical lines around an instance of a set of lines with small spaces between lines and an instance of two lines around an instance of dots in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of a set of vertical lines with small space between them, which is located between an instance of two differentiable vertical lines in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of two vertical lines having spaced less than the regular width of a Braille cell in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; dividing an instance of segment of vertical lines having space larger than the regular width of a Braille cell in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of dots between an instance of segments of two vertical lines in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; merging horizontal and vertical lines from the first and second copies of the extracted Braille image to define Braille cells in the extracted Braille image.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the original Braille document is two sided, the scanning comprises producing an image reflecting both sides of the original Braille document, and the processing further comprises duplicating formatting of each side of the original Braille document to produce a copy of the original Braille document.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing further comprises: pre-processing the image of the original Braille document, producing the extracted Braille image; and post-processing the extracted Braille image, duplicating formatting of the original Braille document producing the copy of the original Braille document.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing further comprises: pre-processing the image of the original Braille document, by a first facsimile machine, producing the extracted Braille image, prior to sending; and post-processing the extracted Braille image, by a second facsimile machine after receiving, duplicating formatting of the original Braille document producing the copy of the original Braille document.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scanning, the processing, and the sending are carried out by a first facsimile machine, and the receiving and the printing are carried out by a second facsimile machine.
6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the copy of the original Braille document produced by the processing comprises ASCII Braille codes.
7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the sending and receiving are carried out via one of a telecommunications link and a data network link.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing further comprises deskewing the image of the original Braille document, the deskewing comprising: segmenting the image of the original Braille document by estimated thresholds values resulting from Beta distribution; detecting Braille cells in the image of the original Braille document using morphological operations; and finding rotation angle of the image of the original Braille document by calculating a median of slope angles of all straight lines that pass through an instance of three dots of detected Braille cells.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the processing further comprises detecting Braille cells in the extracted Braille image by generating horizontal and vertical lines based on dots in the extracted Braille image.
10. A facsimile machine implemented method comprising: scanning an original Braille document by a first facsimile machine, obtaining an image of the original Braille document; pre-processing the image of the original Braille document by the first facsimile machine, producing an extracted Braille image; sending a facsimile of the extracted Braille image by the first facsimile machine, via a communications link; receiving the facsimile of the extracted Braille image, via the communications link, by a second facsimile machine; post-processing the extracted Braille image by the second facsimile machine, duplicating formatting of the original Braille document producing a copy of the original Braille document; and printing the copy of the original Braille document by the second facsimile machine; wherein the post-processing further comprises: generating horizontal lines around an instance of a dot in a first copy of the extracted Braille image; generating differentiable horizontal lines around an instance of a set of lines with small spaces between lines and an instance of two lines around an instance of dots in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of a set of horizontal lines with small spaces between them, which is located between an instance of two differentiable horizontal lines in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of two horizontal lines spaced less than the regular height of a Braille cell in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; dividing space from a first segment to the top of the first copy of the extracted Braille image; dividing an instance of a horizontal segment of two lines spaced greater than the regular height of a Braille cell in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of dots between an instance of segments of two horizontal lines in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; generating vertical lines around an instance of a dot in a second copy of the extracted Braille image; generating differentiable vertical lines around an instance of a set of lines with small spaces between lines and an instance of two lines around an instance of dots in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of a set of vertical lines with small space between them, which is located between an instance of two differentiable vertical lines in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of two vertical lines having spaced less than the regular width of a Braille cell in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; dividing an instance of segment of vertical lines having space larger than the regular width of a Braille cell in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of dots between an instance of segments of two vertical lines in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; merging horizontal and vertical lines from the first and second copies of the extracted Braille image to define Braille cells in the extracted Braille image.
11. The facsimile machine of claim 10 , wherein the original Braille document is two sided, the scanning comprises producing an image reflecting both sides of the original Braille document, and the post-processing further comprises duplicating formatting of each side of the original Braille document to produce a copy of the original Braille document.
12. The facsimile machine of claim 10 , wherein the pre-processing further comprises deskewing the image of the original Braille document, the deskewing comprising: segmenting the image of the original Braille document by estimated thresholds values resulting from Beta distribution; detecting Braille cells in the image of the original Braille document using morphological operations; and finding rotation angle of the image of the original Braille document by calculating a median of slope angles of all straight lines that pass through an instance of three dots of detected Braille cells.
13. The facsimile machine of claim 10 , wherein the post-processing further comprises detecting Braille cells in the extracted Braille image by generating horizontal and vertical lines based on dots in the extracted Braille image.
14. A Braille-to-Braille facsimile machine operatively couple to an image scanner, a Braille printer, and a communications link, the Braille-to-Braille facsimile machine comprising: a main image processing board, operatively coupled to the image scanner, the Braille printer and the communications link, the main image processing board including one or more respective processors operatively coupled to respective memory, each memory comprising computer program instructions executable by a processor to implement a method for Braille-to Braille facsimile comprising: scanning an outgoing Braille document using the image scanner to obtain an image of the Braille document; processing the image of the Braille document, producing an extracted Braille image and processing an extracted Braille image to duplicate formatting of the Braille document to produce a copy of the Braille document; sending the extracted Braille image or the copy of the Braille document, via the communications link; receiving an extracted Braille image or a copy of a Braille document, via the communications link; and printing the copy of the Braille document; wherein the processing further comprises: generating horizontal lines around an instance of a dot in a first copy of the extracted Braille image; generating differentiable horizontal lines around an instance of a set of lines with small spaces between lines and an instance of two lines around dots in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of a set of horizontal lines with small spaces between them, which is located between an instance of two differentiable horizontal lines in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of two horizontal lines spaced less than the regular height of a Braille cell in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; dividing space from a first segment to the top of image in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; dividing an instance of a horizontal segment of two lines spaced greater than the regular height of a Braille cell in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of dots between an instance of segments of two horizontal lines in the first copy of the extracted Braille image; generating vertical lines around an instance of a dot in a second copy of the extracted Braille image; generating differentiable vertical lines around an instance of a set of lines with small spaces between lines and an instance of two lines around dots in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of set of vertical lines with small spaces between them, which is located between two differentiable vertical lines in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of two vertical lines spaced less than the regular width of a Braille cell in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; dividing an instance of a segment of vertical lines spaced greater than the regular width of a Braille cell in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; removing an instance of dots between an instance of a segment of two vertical lines in the second copy of the extracted Braille image; and merging horizontal and vertical lines from the first and second copies of the extracted Braille image to define Braille cells in the extracted Braille image.
15. The Braille-to-Braille facsimile machine of claim 14 , wherein the Braille document is two sided and the scanning comprises producing an image reflecting both sides of the Braille document and the processing an extracted Braille image further comprises duplicating formatting of each side of the Braille document to produce a copy of the Braille document.
16. The Braille-to-Braille facsimile machine of claim 14 , wherein the processing further comprises deskewing the image of the Braille document, the deskewing comprising: segmenting the image of the Braille document by estimated thresholds values resulting from Beta distribution; detecting Braille cells in the image of the Braille document using morphological operations; and finding rotation angle of the image of the Braille document by calculating a median of slope angles of all straight lines that pass through any three dots of detected Braille cells.
17. The Braille-to-Braille facsimile machine of claim 14 , wherein the processing an extracted Braille image further comprises detecting Braille cells in the extracted Braille image by generating horizontal and vertical lines based on dots in the extracted Braille image.
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October 10, 2011
November 11, 2014
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